WINONA As the Cal Fremling, Winona State University’s new floating classroom, was driven up the Mississippi River on Friday for its dedication, it made big ripples in the water.

That’s what the 60 foot boat is going to do for students make ripples and waves in their lives, said Kirsti Hendrickson, granddaughter of Fremling, a former WSU biology professor for whom the boat is named.

The 60 foot boat, which is a fully functioning floating classroom, was made at Skipperliner in La Crosse, Wis., and driven up to Winona on Friday for a formal dedication and christening.

Fremling was a well known WSU professor who loved the river. Cheap Jerseys china He was an internationally recognized expert on the river and wrote a book on it called “Immortal River: the Upper Mississippi River in Ancient and Modern Times.”

He also studied mayflies as a way to learn more about polychlorinated biphenyls, a pollutant in the river and also helped Winona restore Lake Winona, which is an old channel of the river that has been cut off from the main channel.

He taught at the university from 1959 until retiring in 1991. He died in August 2010.

At the dedication, Fremling was praised for his high quality, personal teaching, his passion and his personality. “He primed the pump in creating the thirst for discovery,” said Thom Kieffer, chairman of the WSU Foundation.

Gary Evans, the event’s emcee, said there were plans to have more boats accompany the Fremling to port but the Mississippi is quite high and fast. But “it’s fitting that the river should rise up,” he said. “It’s as if the Old Man River his head in salute.”

“Very few people cared as much about the river as Cal did,” said Winona Mayor Mark Peterson. “It’s absolutely right that we are celebrating such a man.”

But it was Hendrickson who told the most telling, most intimate stories about the man she called “Pappa.” He was both an educator and a lifelong learner, she said.

She told of how he often took her fishing and taught her to correctly put the worm on the hook, then clean the fish.

In the classroom, “he preferred hands on to lecturing” and even took students camping and out on the river. “He was patient. He was kind a sweet, loving grandfather,” she said.

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Raiders Group chief executive Simon Hawkins insists the Green Machine is financially stable despite giving away prime position on its jersey to a charity.

The ACT based Cancer Support Group will have its logo on Raiders jerseys until the club can find a company willing to meet its seven figure naming rights sponsorship asking price.

”If you look at the Broncos or some of the more successful teams, St George, Manly, some of those clubs may be able to secure a little more than that.

”Canberra, being in a one team town and having that additional media exposure, I would think that’s their value in this market.”

The Broncos’ deal with the NRMA is estimated to be the richest in the NRL at about $1.5million a year, wholesale nfl jerseys while the leading clubs in the AFL can command anywhere up to $2million annually for a naming rights sponsor.

The ACT Brumbies are understood to have penned a sponsorship deal in excess of $1million a season for next season.

The Tradies/CMFEU has been the Raiders’ major sponsor for the past two years before reducing its level of sponsorship for 2012.

The Raiders have been canvassing possible new sponsors since August but haven’t given up hope of locking in a deal ahead of the round one clash with the Melbourne Storm at Canberra Stadium.

The Cancer Support Group logo will be on the front and back of Raiders jerseys, both their home and away strips, until a new major sponsor can be found.

Smith, who has more than 25 years experience in the sports marketing industry, said the Raiders’ brand would benefit by being aligned with a charity organisation.

”It shows that the club has made an attempt to pass on some valuable property to a really needy cause,” he said.

”Of course, there’ll be a time when they’ll want that to be a commercial brand, but it shows a commitment to good community causes.”

Hawkins raised the possibility of selling the space on the front and the back of the club’s jersey separately.

The front could potentially be worth $600,000 while the back could fetch up to $400,000.

It appears the most likely alternative unless the Raiders can convince one of their former sponsors to return to the fold.

”It’s very difficult to find someone new to the game who has that sort of money and trust,” Smith said.

”You either have to go back to someone that has drifted away from the NRL and you think is in the position of growth that could come back, or you split the value and sell the front and back of the jumper.